Djokovic is set to make an announcement at a press conference in Belgrade following treatment for his elbow from a Toronto specialist.

It's quite likely he will look to take a break from tennis for a while - recently a doctor from his camp (Dr Zdenko Milinkovic) was quoted to say he was "99% likely" to miss the US Open.

He added: “He has a bruised bone due to excessive playing. He did not have enough of a pause, Novak clenched his teeth and continued playing despite a serious injury. It was always a big concern for me as his friend.”

Six to twelve weeks off, that means he could come back during the Asian swing or the Indoor HC swing, but what's the point to come back then? He won't be gaining many more points, could be beaten in R1 or R2 in tournaments, thus not gaining many points.

He might as well take the rest of the season off, get healed and then work on improving his game, perhaps add in some new elements into his game. I do feel both Rafa (in 2012) and Fed (in 2016) did spend time healing and then work on improving their game, that's why when they were back, it didn't take them long to get to business end of tournaments, in fact it's at their respective first tournament of their comeback that they at least reached the final (Rafa at Chile) and Fed even won the AO.

I think Djoko should just do the same and not rush to come back. Djoko is also talented so I don't see why he would be much worse off than Fedal when he comes back.

After reading that article, I think Djoko needs more time than 12 weeks to heal. Why did Djoko get to that stage, without stopping sooner to get it treated? Some bad advices maybe? It sounded terrible, the inner layer of the bone got hurt and bruised!

Belovedluckyboy wrote:After reading that article, I think Djoko needs more time than 12 weeks to heal. Why did Djoko get to that stage, without stopping sooner to get it treated? Some bad advices maybe? It sounded terrible, the inner layer of the bone got hurt and bruised!

Possibly bad advice, but playing Wimbledon was probably his call, right?

It is a shame, but then again we've had excellent slam finals (aside from the Cilic blister) in his absence. Hopefully this will allow him to regroup his personal life too - it's not worth sacrificing that for tennis - he's got baby number two coming soon I think.

Sadly but possibly unavoidably, Djoko may announce he has to miss the USO. It seems that only every other GS has the full complement of the Big 4 at the moment, but at least it's the two younger ones who are in the wars at the moment, with Murray may be not out for too long. Hopefully, come the 2018 AO, all four will be battling it out. With no great challenge coming from the younger players, we need the blockbuster Big 4 (Big 5 if you include Stan) matches.

reckoner wrote:It is a shame, but then again we've had excellent slam finals (aside from the Cilic blister) in his absence. Hopefully this will allow him to regroup his personal life too - it's not worth sacrificing that for tennis - he's got baby number two coming soon I think.

Didn't think that the French Open Mens final was excellent. Nadal might have been but Wawrinka didn't put up any more fight than Cilic.

This from the BBC: Twelve-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic will not play again in 2017 because of an elbow injury.Former world number one Djokovic, 30, retired injured during his Wimbledon quarter-final match against Tomas Berdych on 12 July.He said then he had suffered an elbow problem for over a year and a half.It means Djokovic will miss the US Open, which starts at Flushing Meadows on 28 August, and where the Serb won the title in 2011 and 2015.

Am hearing also that Agassi will definitely remain with him once the new season begins (assuming of course Djokovic is indeed fit & ready to return by then) - which to me sounds like a very positive thing, notwithstanding the bad news about the enforced long layoff.

More on Djoko: "All the doctors I've consulted, and all the specialists I have visited, in Serbia and all over the world, have agreed that this injury requires rest," said Djokovic."A prolonged break from the sport is inevitable. I'll do whatever it takes to recover."My elbow is hurt due to excessive playing, and it troubles me constantly when serving, and now when playing forehand as well."My body has its limits, and I have to respect that and be grateful for all that I have achieved so far."At the beginning of my career I was facing health issues, but over the years, and with a lot of patience and dedication, I found a solution."That's the approach I take to this situation, and I firmly believe that I will come back stronger."

Almost exactly the same scenario for Djoko as for Fed this time last year. Djoko will come back for the 2018 AO, all being well, at around 15 or 16 seed. Clearly the injury has been a problem for some time and explains why there has been so little oomph in his play.

sirfredperry wrote:More on Djoko: "All the doctors I've consulted, and all the specialists I have visited, in Serbia and all over the world, have agreed that this injury requires rest," said Djokovic."A prolonged break from the sport is inevitable. I'll do whatever it takes to recover."My elbow is hurt due to excessive playing, and it troubles me constantly when serving, and now when playing forehand as well."My body has its limits, and I have to respect that and be grateful for all that I have achieved so far."At the beginning of my career I was facing health issues, but over the years, and with a lot of patience and dedication, I found a solution."That's the approach I take to this situation, and I firmly believe that I will come back stronger."

Almost exactly the same scenario for Djoko as for Fed this time last year. Djoko will come back for the 2018 AO, all being well, at around 15 or 16 seed. Clearly the injury has been a problem for some time and explains why there has been so little oomph in his play.

His current race points would have him 13 in the world today, I think.

Interesting how often what is apparently a mental issue may in fact have its origin, at least in part, in a physical issue.

That said, I'm far from sure we have the full picture with Djoko - there do seem to have been family problems about which he has, by turn, been 'open' and dismissive, and shedding his coaching team with whom he achieved so much doesn't sound like an obvious response to a physical issue. Also, if he had a longstanding problem with his elbow, why not, once he'd got the career slam and held all four, get it properly diagnosed and take some time off to recuperate properly like Fedal were doing at the same time?

Whatever the truth, his decision seems a very wise one and I hope that he recuperates and gets back to decent form. I also hope that, whatever is the right decision for Murray vis-a-vis his hip, he will take it too.

barrystar wrote:Interesting how often what is apparently a mental issue may in fact have its origin, at least in part, in a physical issue. ...

Tiger Woods took time out because he had lost control in his personal life. In his case his wife wouldn't accept him back. However that alone shouldn't have stopped Tiger Woods returning to elite level golf - it was a series of severe injuries that stopped him from doing that. In general sportspeople don't broadcast their injuries - because they can still wing wins and intimidate their opponents.

Tiger has certainly been wrestling with a whole series of complex issues. It's been quite some fall from grace - and whilst the initial damage was self-inflicted, his physical troubles are unfortunate, and not something he can control.

But even if he can get back to full match fitness, he would then face another major problem : much younger guys are now setting the pace where the big titles are concerned. And this is the key difference right now between the elite level golf and tennis scenes. In tennis we keep waiting & waiting for the 'new blood' to make an impact ......

@lags72 - you are right, but the 'new blood' in golf have had 9 years at winning Major Tournaments since Woods last won a Major, the US Open in June 2008. His health problems had significantly manifested themselves by then, and his Major-winning halo really slipped at the 2009 PGA when he failed to win from having a third day lead for the first time in his career. Hydrant-gate and the resulting shambles came after the end of the golf season in 2009.

Don't want to derail the thread totally, but I wonder just what level Tiger would be happy with if (and it's a big IF of course) he can make it back to regular touring. Given his stellar history and truly amazing CV, I suspect he would quickly lose interest if he found himself unable to challenge at the Majors ; which is quite different from someone who is just glad to be playing on the pro circuit.

Don't want to derail the thread totally, but I wonder just what level Tiger would be happy with if (and it's a big IF of course) he can make it back to regular touring. Given his stellar history and truly amazing CV, I suspect he would quickly lose interest if he found himself unable to challenge at the Majors ; which is quite different from someone who is just glad to be playing on the pro circuit.

Agree - Federer has made it clear that he is playing for the love of the game and because he believes it is pay-back time to the sport and crowds who have supported him during his career, the current level of success is a bonus (although I'm sure that if he was not at all competitive that might affect his love or the willingness of his wife to put up with him staying on tour). Woods appears to be an altogether less settled individual and his personal relationships and relationship with spectators over the world look to be more complex than the settled home life and crowd adoration that Federer appears to enjoy. If those speculations/assumptions are correct, it would be logical to expect that the level of success needed to sustain Woods's desire to stay on would be higher than in the case of Federer - especially since Woods does not have a supportive wife who is happy to take his children around on tour with him, but he would need to make relatively complicated access arrangements (their mother might not like them going on tour with him) and, by all accounts, one thing he really loves in life is is children.

I don't think it's his CV or history - not hugely more stellar than Federer's or Nadal's, nor even Djoko's arguably - but more what seems to be his less settled and 'content' frame of mind and his complex home life that might require a higher level of success than what Federer would put up with to make the disruption of touring worthwhile in his eyes. John McEnroe has hinted that Djoko is in a similar state to Woods - we shall see....

reckoner wrote:So it's official then - Djoker missing the rest of the year. Shame, I would have liked to see Federer play him at the USO.

Well at least the two have played in New York. Now a Rog-Rafa match at the USO would be something. I'm expecting Djoko to come roaring back next year. It could be argued that he and Andy have been victims of their own success in the period 2015/16 as they constantly reached the latter stages of tournaments so played more matches than anyone else. Andy was determined to go all out for the number one position last autumn and probably overplayed. Djoko now has time to rest and can also have some home/family life.

Djokovic is traditionally very capable at Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami. If his injury permits, it would be good for him to target a return to top form at those tournaments. Perhaps some exhos in December and then at least one tournament before the AO, perhaps one plus some full pelt practice matches or exhos with. I'm not sure if the injury is going to permit that.

If he comes back too late...i.e. straight into the AO or Indian Wells...harder to be able to get the wins on the board at any of the three tournaments above, then it's clay, grass, and faster courts, harder for him to get into the groove during the middle part of the season, with the ranking potentially at a low point until he actually wins a tournament or two.